Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Here's and interesting ad placed by Verifone via Google Adsense.
Obviously they are claiming that their solution is better... (runs circles around square), and they invite Square users to trade in their card reader and get a "SECURE" one free. Interesting. Want a secure card reader WITH a PIN Pad? One that's been PCI approved by Visa/MasterCard/Amex/Discover and JCB?

In a presentation at the CanSecWest security conference earlier this month, the researchers from InversePath declared that chip and PIN is "definitely broken" and skimming will become "extremely appealing" to fraudsters. The group built a prototype skimming device which it says can be easily installed at any POS terminals or ATMs, is virtually impossible to spot and uses the machines to power itself. EMV cards talk to payment terminals via application protocol data unit (APDU) messages for reading records and issuing commands. InversePath says skimmers can intercept and read every part of the terminal-ICC exchange. Crooks can then download the data with a special card recognised by the skimmer and use it to perform online transactions that do not require users to give the CVV numbers on the back of their cards.Download the document from Finextra now2 mb (PDF File)

Discover Financial Services Reports Record First Quarter Net Income of $465 Million or $0.84 Per Diluted Share

Increases the Quarterly Dividend to $0.06 Per Share

RIVERWOODS, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) today reported net income for the first quarter of 2011 of $465 million, as compared to a net loss of $104 million for the first quarter of 2010.

“Our results this quarter represented record earnings for any first quarter in Discover's history, driven by on-going improvements in credit performance and accelerating growth in Discover card sales as well as third party payments volumes”

First Quarter Highlights

Discover card sales volume was $24 billion in the quarter, an increase of 7% from the prior year.

The company acquired The Student Loan Corporation, adding student loans with a fair value of $3.1 billion to its private student loan portfolio. Total loans grew 3% year over year, including the student loan acquisition.

Payment Services had record pretax income of $43 million, up 16% from the prior year. Transaction volume for the segment was $43 billion in the quarter, an increase of 21% from the prior year.

The company declared a first quarter dividend of $0.06 per share, representing a restoration of the dividend to the pre-financial crisis level.

"Our results this quarter represented record earnings for any first quarter in Discover's history, driven by on-going improvements in credit performance and accelerating growth in Discover card sales as well as third party payments volumes," said David Nelms, chairman and chief executive officer of Discover. “I am optimistic that our additional student loan capabilities, additional marketing investments and the gradually improving economy will further contribute to profitable loan growth in the future."

Segment Results:

Direct Banking

Direct Banking pretax income of $677 million in the first quarter of 2011 was an $885 million improvement from the first quarter of 2010. Pretax income included $30 million related to The Student Loan Corporation.

Total loans ended the quarter at $51.7 billion, up 3% compared to the prior year, reflecting the acquisition of $3.1 billion in private student loans partially offset by a decline in credit card loans. Credit card loans ended the quarter at $44.3 billion, a 3% decline from the prior year, driven by an increase in the payment rate partially offset by a 7% year over year increase in Discover card sales volume.

Net interest margin increased 21 basis points from the prior year to 9.22%, principally due to a decrease in funding related costs, which resulted in a $25 million increase in net interest income. Net interest income increased $46 million from the prior quarter, primarily driven by an increase in total loan balances related to the student loan acquisition.

The delinquency rate for credit card loans over 30 days past due declined to 3.59%, an improvement of 180 basis points from the prior year, and 47 basis points from the prior quarter. The credit card net charge-off rate decreased to 5.96% for the first quarter of 2011, down 304 basis points from the prior year and 99 basis points from the prior quarter.

Provision for loan losses of $418 million decreased $969 million from the prior year, driven by lower charge-offs and a reduction in the allowance for loan losses. Improvement in the outlook for credit performance over the next 12 months led to a reduction in the loan loss reserve rate, which resulted in a reserve release of $271 million in the first quarter of 2011 versus a reserve build of $305 million in the first quarter of 2010.

Other income increased $6 million, or 1%, from the prior year. The increase reflects a purchase gain of $16 million and transition services revenue related to the acquisition of The Student Loan Corporation. This was partially offset by a decline in late fees and the discontinuance of overlimit fees beginning in February 2010.

Expenses were up $115 million, or 26%, from the prior year, reflecting increased marketing and advertising spending, higher compensation expense and costs related to The Student Loan Corporation acquisition. The first quarter of 2010 included a $23 million benefit related to a dispute settlement.

Payment Services

Payment Services pretax income of $43 million in the quarter was up $6 million, or 16%, from the prior year driven principally by an $11 million increase in revenues.

Payment Services dollar volume was a record $43.2 billion for the first quarter, up 21% from the prior year, driven by higher PULSE, Diners Club International and third-party issuer volume. The number of transactions on the PULSE network increased 29%.

Effective Tax Rate

The company's effective tax rate declined to 35.4%, reflecting the resolution of a number of state tax matters.

Dividends

The company’s board declared a cash dividend of $0.06 per share of common stock, payable on April 21, 2011, to stockholders of record at the close of business on April 7, 2011.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

The company will host a conference call to discuss its first quarter results on Tuesday, March 22, 2011, at 4:00 p.m. Central time. Interested parties can listen to the conference call via a live audio webcast at http://investorrelations.discoverfinancial.com.

About Discover

Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) is a direct banking and payment services company with one of the most recognized brands in U.S. financial services. Since its inception in 1986, the company has become one of the largest card issuers in the United States. The company operates the Discover card, America's cash rewards pioneer, and offers personal and student loans, online savings accounts, certificates of deposit and money market accounts through its Discover Bank subsidiary. Its payment businesses consist of Discover Network, with millions of merchant and cash access locations; PULSE, one of the nation's leading ATM/debit networks; and Diners Club International, a global payments network with acceptance in more than 185 countries and territories. For more information, visit www.discoverfinancial.com.

ATLANTA, March 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile Tag, the leader in 1D and 2D mobile barcode and NFC-based marketing solutions, announced the successful closing of its Series B financing totalling approximately $8.2M. "We are convinced that this fundraising operation will affirm Mobile Tag's position as a leader and increase both its commercial and technical influence," concluded Domenico Surace, Founder and CEO Mobile Tag Group.

Mobile Tag, Inc., the Atlanta-based wholly owned US subsidiary of Mobile Tag Group, has entered into a definitive contract to partner with America's largest Wireless Carrier to make the use of Mobile Barcodes and NFC tagging as pervasive as text messaging. Mobiles equipped with team's high-performance readers, either pre-loaded out of the box or downloaded through app stores, will enable immediate interaction between brands and their consumers directly from traditional advertising, by-passing search engines and the competitive messages they display in the search results. This all happens immediately without the consumer waiting to get to a PC. This enables a one to one dialog between the consumer and advertiser immediately from the ad. As the largest provider of mobile devices to consumers, the partnership is uniquely positioned to provide this service to its millions of Consumers and Business Customers along with its partner Mobile Tag. Successful trials have already been conducted with key business customers.

Mobile Tag, Inc.'s CEO William Hoffman believes, "Our partner has a unique position giving it a clear advantage to help Brands connect to consumers in an easy and intuitive way. In my opinion, the partnership has "cracked the code" on how to connect businesses of all sizes DIRECTLY with consumers of all ages and tastes, using commonplace technology like barcodes or advanced technology like NFC tags combined with your ever-present cell phone".

To aid Mobile Tag's global growth strategy, $8.2 million of additional financing was obtained from existing investors XAnge Private Equity, Alven Capital, IDF Capital and new investment from Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken Venture Capital (SEB Venture Capital) who joined the Board of the Parent.

There is excellent potential for growth in mobile marketing - key advertisers are present in this buoyant market. Mobile Tag's solutions are adapted to businesses of all sizes, from top advertisers to independent retailers.

"We're delighted to make this investment in Mobile Tag and believe MobileTag's technology and above all, its management platform, will be very attractive for operators, advertisers and direct marketers. We're looking forward to helping this company achieve its international aspirations." Frank Kelcz, SEB's appointed board-member for MobileTag

"Since its inception, Mobile Tag, has innovated in the emerging field of Mobile marketing services. We look forward to seeing Mobile Tag's evolution as it continues to develop new ways for brands, retailers and consumers to interact using mobile technology," addsNicolas Rose, Partner at XAnge Private Equity.

Nicolas Celier, Partner at Alven Capital, states that: "In 2008 we had already backed this innovative concept. Given Mobile Tag's results and its development of Flashcodes, we had no hesitation in renewing our commitment".

About SEB Venture Capital

SEB Venture Capital was established in 1995 and is part of the SEB Group. With a multistage evergreen fund of approximately 240 million Euros, the fund has currently 37 investments in the technology and healthcare sectors, and has achieved 45 exits since inception. SEB is a North European financial group serving some 400,000 corporate customers and institutions and five million private individuals.

Backed by leading European corporates and financial institutions, XAnge is a unique private equity firm, subsidiary of La Banque Postale, one of the largest retail banks in France and fully owned by La Poste. As of today, XAnge has 340 million in assets under management. With an international team of seasoned professionals based in Paris and Munich, XAnge actively supports leading venture and growth companies in Europe, with a strong focus on technology.

Mobile Tag is the market leader in marketing solutions for 2D, 1D and NFC. In 2006, the company launched mobiletag, an embedded software application that allows phones to read 2D barcodes, otherwise known as tags, simply by using the phone's camera. Mobile Tag developed the software to create quick access to external content.

The mobile payment revolution is coming. Within the next five years, there is a very good chance you will be paying for goods and services with your cell phone. The topic has gotten quite a bit of coverage as of late, of course, with several top manufacturers and banks talking up eWallet services. Google has included NFC support in its Nexus S smartphone and, more importantly, in Android 2.3; Research In Motion has committed to including the technology in its future smartphones; Samsung has included NFC in its wildly popular next-generation Galaxy S handset; and U.S. carriers are beginning to forge alliances to implement mobile payment systems.

But Google, RIM, and mobile providers are all newcomers to the payment processing game — how do the traditional creditors feel about this revolution? BGR had a chance to sit down with MasterCard’s vice president of mobile solutions, James Anderson, and talk about what’s next for both creditors and consumers following what could shape up to be the death of plastic.

MasterCard is no stranger to touchless payments. The company has been utilizing the technology in one way or another with its PayPass system since early 2001. MasterCard is also a member of the Near Field Communications Forum — a group dedicated to standardizing the NFC protocol — and has been experimenting with the medium since early 2005. With a global payment network, the company wants to make sure it continues to go where technology is headed, and according to Anderson, all indications are pointing toward mobile devices.

“We’re excited to see companies like VeriFone recognize the importance of NFC,” said Anderson. VeriFone, which supplies point-of-sale terminals the world over, recently announced it would be including NFC hardware on all new POS terminals sold beginning later this year. “Adding NFC does not require a lot of up-charge,” said the VP, referring to the additional manufacturing and hardware costs that are typically passed on to vendors.

We asked Anderson about the payment landscape, and how the adoption of NFC could change the profitability model. Currently consumers, vendors, and the payment network in use all share the conveniences, profits, and burdens of standard credit card transactions. With NFC, two new players are being introduced into that same equation — the mobile carriers and phone manufacturers.

“We’re going to go wherever the consumers’ attention is, and right now it’s on mobile phones,” Anderson said. “We can not be stagnant; we’re going to embrace mobile.”

We then pressed the VP about external threats to the overall business. For example: what’s to prevent a company like Apple, that is already setup to take payments for pretty much anything with its App Store, from slapping NFC in the iPhone 5 and saying payments will be processed through the App Store? Users with an Apple ID can link their accounts to any major credit card they want, not just a MasterCard.

“The solution to mobile payments is really two pronged,” said Anderson. “Having a device that can make payments is only half of the equation. You need for that device’s payments to be accepted wherever you are.” Anderson went on to note that MasterCard has experience at implementing payments, via its worldwide network of vendors, on a global scale. “When you’re at home, it has to work. When you’re on vacation, it has to work there too.”

The VP also told us why his company feels it has an advantage. “The ‘go right’ is easy,” Anderson explained. “When a payment goes through smoothly, that’s the easy part. The ‘go wrong’ is hard. When someone charges something to your account that you did not authorize, that is hard.”

“We’re ready to deal with this,” he reiterates. “It’s what we do today.”

Anderson and MasterCard envisions a world where touchless payments are made with global interoperability, but there are also some perks to paying with a mobile device. “Couponing is one thing people always point to,” he explains.

The idea behind mobile coupons is fairly simple. Your phone knows where you are (thanks to GPS), what you have purchased (thanks to mobile payments), and how frequently you purchase certain things. For example: you’re in a local pharmacy looking to purchase a bottle of aspirin. Your phone knows that approximately every thirty days, you buy shampoo. It also knows that the shampoo you usually buy is on sale today at this pharmacy and it has been roughly 28-days since your last shampoo purchase. A coupon is delivered to your device.

But security is a huge factor as well, of course. With all of this sensitive information being transmitted in new ways, security is of the utmost importance. “This information is extremely sensitive,” says Anderson. “It must be treated with the respect it deserves when we get to that point.” It is in this area especially where the expertise and experience of seasoned companies like MasterCard could give them an upper hand — especially considering how important security is to consumers where mobile transactions are involved.

Mobile payment solutions that utilize NFC will be part of our reality in the very near future. Exactly what that reality will look like, we can’t exactly say. Will credit cards become as rare as $2 bills? Will paper money have the same utility as a penny? We don’t know what mobile payments are going to look like following mass adoption, but if James Anderson and his company have anything to say about it, the

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf said limits on fees charged to merchants for debit-card transactions “make no sense” and distort free- market economics. “What’s next?” Stumpf, 57, wrote in his annual letter to shareholders of the San Francisco-based bank. “Will the government require car dealers to sell a new vehicle for $5,000 or grocers a gallon of milk for 50 cents?” Read More at Bloomberg

Integrated Simply into Existing Checkout Flow. No Interference with Branded-Checkout Experience.
Reduces PCI Scope for Any Business Accepting Electronic Retail or Recurring Payments

MRC 2011 e-Commerce Payments and Risk Conference

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Litle & Co. today unveiled Litle Vault PayPage, a new front-end application on its award-winning card data tokenization platform that completely eliminates merchant exposure to card data during the online acceptance process. PayPage is available through Litle Vault—the company’s proprietary, platform-embedded Tokenization solution, which last month received a Stevie® Award for new product and service innovation.

“As pioneers in the online people search business, we have standardized on solutions that capably deliver and support secure payment processing solutions for the consumers that use our services”

PayPage enables merchants to safely store consumer card data without possessing it. This approach speeds up the checkout process and supports faster conversion that can increase sales. During the online order acceptance process, Litle VaultPayPage transmits card number information collected at the checkout page from a shopper’s web browser directly to the PayPage application server, which tokenizes the sensitive data. PayPage also can be utilized for tokenizing customers’ payment options in electronic wallets. Customers can add new card numbers or update existing ones in their accounts at anytime.

“As pioneers in the online people search business, we have standardized on solutions that capably deliver and support secure payment processing solutions for the consumers that use our services,” said Jerry Klein, CEO, HD Publishing, Inc. “In combination with the Litle Vault, PayPage not only protects our customers’ information—reducing our liability and insurance costs—but also eliminates potential data breaches. In fact, PayPage’s versatility is already a centerpiece of our multi-million dollar call center in support of our online checking, telemarketing and soon, our Direct Response television (DRTV) initiatives. For us PayPage is not only a means to maintain consumer privacy, but also a methodology to securely and transparently increase multichannel customer conversions.”

Litle Vault eliminates the need for merchants to store consumer card data in their own databases—instead, the Litle Vault sends consumer card data to Litle’s secure data storage and replaces card numbers with Tokens that emulate the numerical sequence found in credit cards. This format-preserving approach also allows Tokens to be used in all everyday transaction-based processes as well as business and consumer intelligence efforts, e.g. CRM applications etc. Litle Vault helps reduce the scope and cost of PCI compliance for businesses, it mitigates card data compromise scenarios for businesses and their customers alike, and protects consumers with no action required on their part. Unlike card data, Tokens in the Litle Vault are useless to anyone other than the merchant registering them. Litle Vault PayPage completely eliminates merchant exposure to all card data during the online acceptance process by capturing consumer-submitted card information, tokenizing it and returning a unique PayPage ID to the shopper’s web browser.

About HD Publishing Group, Inc.

According to a recent PEW Internet study titled "Reputation Management and Social Media," 57% of adult internet users now use search engines to find information about themselves online and 46% of Internet users also search online to find information about people from their past, up from 36% in 2006. HD Publishing Group, Inc., a digital footprint company, is the pioneer in the online people search business. Since 1996 the company has provided services that are affordable, easy to use and accurate. HD Publishing Group offers the power of knowledge: find and reconnect with missing family or friends and research the backgrounds of others to provide a safe environment. The company is privately owned, contains no venture capital and owns a $3.5 million data center. The management is comprised of a group of seasoned entrepreneurs that have successful track records in direct to consumer marketing and very large scale transaction processing. The company is currently developing some exciting applications to leverage its resources in the mobile and social media space.

About Litle & Co.

Litle & Co. is the payment processing engine behind leading ecommerce and consumer-direct brands including Overstock.com, Ancestry.com, Gilt Groupe, CSN Stores and Guthy-Renker. The authority in card-not-present payments, transaction processing and merchant services. Litle & Co. powers the payment processing engines for leading brands that sell directly to consumers through multichannel and Internet retail, online services, subscription-membership models and direct response marketing. Founded in 2001 Litle & Co.’s growth trajectory has been acknowledged by a No.1 Inc. 500 ranking (2006), a No.8 Entrepreneur Hot 100 ranking (2008) and a No.6 Boston Business Journal Pacesetters ranking (2010). The company’s customer-obsessed culture is committed to Voice of the Customer initiatives, including Net Promoter Score (NPS), and won the 2010 Stevie Award for eCommerce Customer Service and the 2011 Stevie® Award for product and service innovation for its tokenization solution Litle Vault. To learn more about Litle & Co. visit http://www.litle.com, or call 1-800-548-5326 (1-800-LITLECO) or 978-275-6500.

The market is rapidly developing and the arrival of rechargeable magnetic cards is a major new development. The market in Australia is dominated by epay with the major banks and mobile operators commanding smaller shares. Significantly Australian mobile operators expect to further increase revenue earned from sales for prepaid mobile Internet access in 2010. Another growth market is the emerging prepaid electronic transport ticketing services.Prepaid telecommunications products make up a significant proportion of total telecommunication revenues. In 2010 the total revenue from electronic payment systems in Australia is estimated at around $3.8 billion. Prepaid mobile voice services are the largest revenue segment, followed by calling-cards, prepaid mobile Internet access, music purchases and gift cards, as well as Premium SMS services.

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The U.S. Bank AccelaPay mobile banking application has been honored as the “Best in Category for Virtual or Mobile Prepaid Application” at the 2011 Paybefore Awards. The Paybefore Awards recognize the best products and programs in the prepaid business. Paybefore, a leading publisher of information for the prepaid industry, organizes the annual awards, which are now in their fifth year.

“The honor of being recognized with a ‘Best in Category’ award from Paybefore demonstrates our leadership position as a mobile banking innovator”

“The honor of being recognized with a ‘Best in Category’ award from Paybefore demonstrates our leadership position as a mobile banking innovator,” said Kevin Morrison, U.S. Bank Retail Payment Solutions senior vice president and prepaid business manager. “Our AccelaPay mobile banking service is the first prepaid mobile banking solution to offer bill pay capabilities. It gives our customers a full suite of account services they can conveniently access anywhere and anytime. In addition to the AccelaPay mobile application, U.S. Bank is continuing its record of innovation by enhancing and expanding this application for all of its prepaid products.”

U.S. Bank was selected by a panel of five industry experts who served as judges for this year’s competition. In January, judges chose three (sometimes four) winners in 17 different categories. These winners then vied for “best in category” distinction at an awards ceremony March 7.

“Paybefore Awards were created to celebrate the innovators in our industry who are using prepaid to transform payments with ever-more efficient and accessible products,” said Loraine DeBonis, Paybefore editor-in-chief and chair of the judging panel.

The U.S. Bank AccelaPay® Visa is a reloadable prepaid card designed to replace costly paper checks for businesses with recurring cash disbursement activities, such as payroll, commissions, travel advances and insurance claim distributions. Cardholders can use the AccelaPay mobile banking application to check their balance, pay bills, receive account alerts and view mini-statements on-the-go. For details about U.S. Bank AccelaPay, visit www.usbank.com/accelapayvisa.

U.S. Bank is working in partnership with Monitise Americas, a leader in mobile money solutions, and FIS, a global payments technology provider, to use the most advanced financial management technology available to provide this service.

This is the fourth Paybefore award for U.S. Bank. Paybefore chose the U.S. Bank AccelaPay mobile banking application as a 2011 Paybefore Awards winner in January. In 2010, Paybefore selected the U.S. Bank ReliaCard® Visa® as the ‘Best Government-Funded Program’ and the U.S. Bank PayID Card, a multipurpose prepaid card that allows cardholders to access secure buildings, received an award in the Most Innovative Program category.

About Monitise Americas
Monitise Americas is a joint venture between FIS, one of the world's largest providers of banking and payments technology to financial institutions and businesses worldwide, and Monitise plc (LSE: MONI.L) a global leader in Mobile Money solutions. Monitise Americas provides mobile banking and payment services to North American financial institutions predicated on an "ecosystem" principle, which allows multiple mobile carriers and financial institutions to deliver services over a single platform. Current partners of Monitise Americas include FIS, NYCE, Everlink, Corporate Network eCom, and eCommLink. For more information on Monitise Americas and details of how to benefit from participating in its cross-America ecosystem, please visitwww.monitisegroup.com/americas.

About FIS
FIS (NYSE: FIS) is one of the world’s largest global providers dedicated to banking and payments technologies. With a long history deeply rooted in the financial services sector, FIS serves more than 14,000 institutions in over 100 countries. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., FIS employs more than 30,000 people worldwide and holds leadership positions in payment processing and banking solutions, providing software, services and outsourcing of the technology that drives financial institutions. FIS is a member of Standard & Poor’s 500® Index and consistently holds a leading ranking in the annual FinTech 100 list. For more information about FIS, visit www.fisglobal.com.

About Paybefore
Paybefore is the leading information provider to prepaid and stored value industry professionals, offering the latest news, commentary and analysis. Paybefore’s family of industry publications include: Paybefore.com™, a searchable online news and information portal; Paybefore News™, daily news briefs delivered electronically; Paybefore News International™, a weekly compilation of prepaid news and events from outside the United States; Paybefore Update™, a downloadable e-newsletter delivered 20 times a year; Paybefore Legal™, a downloadable e-newsletter covering the legislative, regulatory and judicial developments in prepaid, as well as feature articles by leading attorneys in the field; Paybefore Magazine™, a biannual print publication featuring in-depth articles on the opportunities, challenges and trends in the global prepaid and stored value industry; and the only industry directory, Paybefore Buyer’s Guide™, available online and in print. Visit us at www.paybefore.com.

About U.S. Bancorp
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), with $308 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, 2010, is the parent company of U.S. Bank, the fifth largest commercial bank in the United States. The company operates 3,069 banking offices in 25 states and 5,310 ATMs and provides a comprehensive line of banking, brokerage, insurance, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions. Visit U.S. Bancorp on the web at www.usbank.com.

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The art of a technology blog
by Tim Cawsey
It’s always pleasing to see creative, informed content get the recognition it deserves, particularly in the world of social media. I thought I’d take a look at some of the security, telecoms and emerging tech blogs that we’ve been following here at Gemalto.
In no particular order, here’s a look at five blogs I enjoy reading online when I’m looking for something reliable, entertaining and, above all, utterly informative from the blogosphere…
ePayment News – Curated by John B. Frank, the ePayment News blog is bold and beautiful, covering everything from tech updates to investment market reviews. Handy features include the ‘you might also like’ (I almost always do…) bars and Payment News RSS page of ever evolving information.